Various types of automatic coffee and tea dispensers are known. Generally described, these dispensers hold a measure of ground coffee, tealeaves, or other type of brewable material in a container of some sort. Hot water typically is added to the material so as to brew the beverage. The material is usually held in some sort of disposable container that must be opened or penetrated so as to allow the hot water to pass therethrough.
One drawback with these known brewing devices is that the elements of the device that come into contact with the brewing material usually must be cleaned. Further, the container for the material must be inserted and aligned in the dispenser for each beverage. As a result, the beverage dispenser as a whole may be somewhat slow between beverage cycles because the container must be inserted, aligned, removed and/or the dispenser elements must be cleaned.
There is a desire, therefore, for a device that brews a beverage with a quick cycle time. The device preferably should be relatively inexpensive and easy to use and produce a high quality beverage. Likewise, the device preferably should be adaptable for different types of brewing materials and amounts of brewing materials.